Enron trio lose court bid to move trial

Kenneth Lay and two other former Enron executives will stand trial in Houston after a judge rejected their request for it to be moved to guarantee an impartial jury.
Mr Lay and his co-accused, former chief executive officer Jeffrey Skilling and ex-chief financial accountant Richard Causey, had all pushed for an alternative venue, citing negative local publicity about their case.
Atlanta, Denver and Phoenix had been suggested as alternatives, but US District Judge Sim Lake yesterday said it would be possible to secure a fair trial in Enron's home town.
"Although news coverage about Enron's collapse, this case, and these defendants has been extensive, the court is not persuaded that it has been so inflammatory or pervasive as to create a presumption that there exists a reasonable likelihood that pre-trial publicity will prevent a fair trial," the judge wrote.
The decision marks a further setback for the three men, who unsuccessfully sought separate trials on the grounds that their cases could be "tainted" by evidence produced against their co-defendants. Mr Lay also failed to secure an expedited trial without jury.
Mr Skilling and Mr Causey
face more than 30 fraud and conspiracy charges related to their alleged^ role in Enron's collapse, while Mr Lay faces seven counts. The men deny all charges against them. The trial could start this spring, though Mr Skilling is pressing for a delay to as late as next year.
The defendants had waged a publicity blitz at the end of last year in an attempt to secure a new venue. "Clearly the jury pool in the southern district of Texas is compromised," said Mr Lay in a filing last November.
The claims were refuted by government prosecutors. They argued that two Houston-based federal judges had successfully appointed juries in the 2002 obstruction of justice trial against Arthur Andersen, Enron's auditor, and last year's trial of six former Enron and Merrill Lynch executives. Andersen was convicted, though has secured an appeal. The so-called Nigerian barge case brought guilty pleas against five defendants, with the sixth cleared of all charges.